An 18-year-old man was charged Tuesday with murdering two teenage girls who were killed in a fusillade of gunfire on a residential street near Brookdale Park in Oakland.

Investigators believe Diantay Powell of Oakland shot and killed Raquel Gerstel, 15, and Bobbie Sartain, 16, during a predawn quarrel Nov. 25 on Minna Avenue and was then driven from the scene by Antonio Edwards, 19, also of Oakland.

The girls apparently were sitting in a parked car with the two men and a juvenile when an argument broke out, ending in gunfire, investigators have told family members.

In addition to the murder charges, Alameda County prosecutors filed special circumstance allegations against Powell for multiple murder. If convicted, Powell could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek lethal injection.

Edwards was charged with being an accessory to murder.

Police said witnesses identified the two men as well as a juvenile who was arrested but not charged. Police have not disclosed details of what led up to the violence, an attack so brutal that residents along the street called it "overkill."

"Nobody deserves to die like that," Gerstel's father, Barton Gerstel said Tuesday. Referring to Powell, he added, "I hope he gets the death penalty."

Edwards was initially arrested last week on unrelated weapons charges. Powell was already in custody on drug and weapons charges after being arrested earlier this month for drunken driving in Oakland.

The girls grew up together in Alameda and were best friends, relatives said. "She was real loving, loved children, always brought smiles to everyone's face," Barton Gerstel said of his daughter.

Minna Avenue residents said they were awakened at 6 a.m. by multiple gunshots and went outside to find Sartain lying on the north side of the street with bullet wounds in her face and back. Gerstel was crawling on the south side of the street, crying for help. She died a little later.